Locomotive-superheater.



Patented NQv. 28, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

l@ pi N l l i A. W.- ANDERSON. LOGOMOTIVE SUPERHEATER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.11, 1910.

Patented NOV. 28, 1911 i A; W. ANDERSON.

LOGOMOTIVE SUPERHEATER.

,-ABI/ZLIOATION ILED APR,11. 1910.

Patented N 0V. 28, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SH-BET 3. n

@VMM/MMM @Mfr 'ra ANnnnwivILLrAi/r ANDERSON, or CHICAGO, iLLINoIs.

LOCOMOTIVE-SUPER-HETER.

To all whom it may concern:

lBeit known that I, ANDREW W ILLIAM AnDERsoN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful improvements inLocomotive-Superheaters, of which the following is a specication. V

My invention relates in general to locomotive superheaters, and moreparticularly to superheaters of the smoke tube type for locomotives.

It is desirable that locomotive superheaters should decrease the heatingsurfaces of the boiler as little as possible, and should not interferewith the cleaning or repair of the boiler flues, .while the superheateritself should be composed of parts easily accessible for repair and asfree as possible from joints which would be liable to leak. The

total cross section in area of the superheater should be as nearly aspossible equal to that I of the steam supply pipe leading from thethrottle valve, so as to permit free passage of steam to the steamchests of the engine cylinders without withdrawing the steam.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a locomotivesuperheater which will possess the above desirable characteristics,which will be simple in construction, economical in maintenance, andeiiicient in operation, and which will interfere to a minimum extentwith the boiler and smoke-box. My invention will be more fully describedhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichv thesame is illustrated as embodied in convenient and practical form, and inwhich- .Figure-1 is a central vertical longitudinal section through myimproved superheater and the adjacent portions of a locomotive.

through v vof Fig. l1 showing my improved superheater Fig. 2'" is avertical transverse section the locomotive smoke-box on line 2 inposition thereon, a portion v'of the latter being shown in verticalsection. Fig. 3 va detail sectional view, taken on the line 3 of Fig. 2.Fig. 4 a horizontal sectional view through the portion. of thesuperheater containin the chambers to which the saturated steam issupplied and from which the superheated steam is delivered. Fig. -5 aplan viewf'of the superheater and adjacent -portions of the locomotive,the topl of the boiler shell being removed; and Fig. .6. an end ele-Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov.,- ae, ieri.

Application Afiled. April 11J 1910. Serial No. 554,800.

yation of one-half of the boiler header showing the arrangement of`u'es. f

Reference letter A i dicate's the shell of a `locomotive boiler, 'and iB rindicates the front flue sheet of the boiler through which extend thefire flues C, while B indicates the back flue sheet through which extendthe opposite ends of the flues. i A

D indicates the smoke stack, while E in# dicates the exhaust nozzleleadingfrom the engine cylinder.

F indicates the steam supply conduit lead-v ing from the throttle valve.The above described struct-ure is that of an ordinary locomotive anddoesnot in itself constitute my invention, it being shown in order that theposition of my improved superheater may be fully disclosed.

G indicates a metal casing or housing, preferably formed in a castingand provided Awith an elbow conduit H. This conduit is secured to andcommunicates with the end of the steam supply conduit F. Any suitablemeans may be provided for securing a steam-tight union between the elbowcon- ,duit H and the steam supply conduit F, such, for instance, as aflange h surrounding the end of the elbow H, which is bolted to a ring fsurreuiiding the conduit F and .located inside of the Hue sheet B. Agland F surrounds the end of the conduit F Aand is clamped between thering f and liange L, the engaged surfaces of the gland and end of theelbow H being preferablv beveled, as shown in Fig. 1, to insure a tightjoint.

' -The casing G is located in the smol e-box vof the locomotive at a4point slightlv above the top row of the boiler flues. and comprises twohorizontally elongated chambers K and L, the former communicating withthe elow conduit H and the latter with the steam chests of the enginecvlinders. through the medium of the conduit O extending from each endthereof and, coupled in .anv suitable manner around the outlet opening N`through the front wall of the chamber L.

Depending from the chambers K and L, and preferably formed integral withthe casting G. are a pluralitv of headers K and L. Alternateheaders Lcommunicate with the chamber L, while intermediate headers K communicatewith the chamberK.

The'

headers are shown as nine in number and v so as to bestaggeredewithrespect tothe vertical planes off the series of boiler 'lues C, as willbe clearly seen by reference to Fig. 2. The adjacent headers K and L areplaced in communication with each other through the medium of aplurality of vertical series of horizontal coils M, which extend withinthe boiler flues C,

each of the vertical series of coils M Aprefer.

ably consisting of four coils, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Each of thecoils M prefer'- ably consists of a tubel m, communicating with a headerK and-extending through the adjacent boiler flue C toward the rear ue'sheet B. A U-coupling m is connected to the inner end of the ltubem andunites the same with a return tube m2 which extends slightly into thesmoke-box, where the U' coupling mi unites the same with a tube m4-extending into the same flue C, the inner end of'which is in turn unitedby a U-coupling m5 with a forwardly projecting tube m, the y curing theincreased capacity due to four coils in each vertical series, withoutnecessitating the headers being projected down- 'wardly so far as tonecessitate the too great lowering of the automatic damper mechanism,which blocks the draft through the boiler lines for preventingtlieburning out of the coils when steam, is not passing through them. f

I have shown in Fig. 1 the damper ar- .rangement above referred to,which. comprises two horizontally vpivoted dampers R and R2, fixed tooscillating rods 7" and r2, the latter being connected bycrank armsunited by a link R. An arm S is rigidly secured to the rod 1", and isprovided with a weight s, which normally operates the dampers to theclosed position shown in Fig. l, thereby cutting oii the draft throughthe i'lues in which the coils are located. When the throttle valve isopen and steam is passing to the cylinders,'steam also passesto a motorcylin.

der U, the piston in which is operatively connected to a crank arm Tprojecting from the rod r2, thereby oscillating the dampers to the openpositions shown in dotted lines, so as to permit the fiues C in whichthe coils M are located to be subjected to the draft of the smoke-box.When the throttle valve'is' closed, and steam thereby cut oif from thecylinder U, the weight s falls by gravity and closes the dampcrs so asto discontinue the draft through the les in which the steam coils arelocated. -It will vof course be understood thatthe superheater 'isprotected from the draft, except through the dampers, by means of apartition P, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. j A

The operation of Amy improved superheater will be'readily understoodfrom the foregoing description. The saturated steam passes from theconduit F, when the throttle through the communicating depending headersK through the vertical series of.

lvalve is open, to the chamber K,vt hence coils M, back to theintermediate headers L',

thence to the chamber L, from which the served that there is notransverse header or chamber at the lower ends ofthe headers which wouldinterfere with ready access to the lower row of flues C. V.It is furtherevisuperheated steam passesthrough a conduitl dent that by providingvertical series of coils in each of the vertical rows of Iflues, thecapacity of the superheater may be variedv without complications orinterference with the accessibility of thel superheating ele# ments, soas to as nearly as desirable equal# the capacity of the steam supplyconduit F,

hence there is no obstruction to the free passage of steam through thesuperheater to the cylinder steam chests. Any -one of the coils M may beremoved when necessary for repailrs without disturbing any of the othercoi s.

My improved superheater reduces to a minimum the, danger of leakage, asno gaskets are necessary, the only-detachable joints being the usualones communicating with the conduits O leading to the 'steam chests andthe one communicatingwith the 'steam supply pipe F. It is also: evidentthat in my improved superheater all the superheat# ing elements are atall times in direct comi munication with both cylinder steam chests.

In order to get as high a degree of super-l heat as possible, I employthe four superheating pipes'in each superheating element connected insuch a way with return elbows as to cause thesteam in passing from thesaturated steam chamber to the super- 'heated steam chamber to make twodouble passagesthrough the small pipes in each large -boiler ue, thusinsuring as high a degree of superheat as possible before the steam isallowed` to pass to the cylinders. In making this kind of a superheatingele- 'ment, I also cut down the number of joints or connections betweenthe superheating pipes and steam header to the smallest possible number.These are the connections which give the most trouble in presentsuperheateyrs. As shownin Figs. l and 2, I employ a T-header extendingthe -full width of the smoke boxj and containing va saturated .Steamchamber and. 'a' superheated steam chamber extendingthe length of theheader and' located directly above the top `row of large superheaterboiler fiues. These chambers have flat depending chambers locatedin thecentral planes extending between the vertical rows of large -superheaterlues. These depending chambers are connected alternately tothehorizontal superheated steam and saturated steam chambers in the mainbody of the T-header. This' T-he'ader,

with its depending chambers, is made all of one piece so as to have nosteam-tight joints to maintain in the maln header and its dependingmembers. As shown' in Figs.'

l, 2 and 5, there are but two of the pipes out of the four constitutingeach superheating element that need to be connected to the adjacentsuperheated steam and saturated steam depending chambers, and as this isdone at therear side of these chambers by simply expanding the pipesinto the depending members, the inside width of these chambers canbelimited to the outsidey diameter of the superheater pipes. In this waythe depending chambers canbe made so narrow'as to leave a channelpractically the full width of the large superheating Aflues andextending the full height of each vertical row of large flues whollyunob-f` structed, and through these channels every large flue can begotten at for. repairs and for cleaning without disturbing any part ofthe superheater. By using a small hydraulic jack screwed into the plugopen- 40 ings in the front wall of the depending 'A chambers, the pipescan be jacked out of the Y adjacent headers simultaneously, and then bysimply turning the superheating element an eighth to a quarter of a turnin the large ue to clear the forward ends of the pipes from thedepending headers, any superheating element can be removed for repairsand returned without disturbingany of the others. By the use of thisexpanded pipe connection to thesteam headers and only having ythenecessary bridge metal between adjacent pipes, the depending chamber canbe made so short as to leave the lower one or two horizontal rows ofsuperheating flues totally unobstructed, which also leaves thenecessaryl room for a simple and eiiicient damper construction below theheaders. By the use of the flattened steam-pipe, which closely followsthe shell of the smoke arch,

69 the top row of large tluescan be extended the full width of theboiler and still have the outside flues unobstructed for repairs orremoval of the superheating element, by .-either the header-or the steampipe, which 6 5 also allows of the full use of the total upper` twothirds of the flue spacel for the large ues for the superheating coils.This gives a maximum possible amount ofsuperheating area for a givensize of boiler.

The construction of my improved superheater is such. that sharp bendsare`eliminatedfrom the connections ofthe superheating elements with theheaders, and in the headers themselves, thereby Vreducing to minimum theloss of steam head or pressure and internal losses in the flow of steam.The location of the headers between the front fiue sheet and the smokebox partition renders .unnecessary baffles between the headers and frontflue sheet, thereby simplifying its construction. Another advantageresulting from my improved construction is that all of the coils or flueelements in each horizontal row'are the same, thereby reducing thenumber of differentially bent -coils to -the number of horizontal rowslof coils.

While I have described more or less in.

detail the embodiment of my improved su. perheater herein illustratedand described,

'yet it is to beunderstood that my invention is capable of embodiment inother specific forms, and maybe changed structurally as occasion mayrequire or circumstances may demand, without departing from the spiritthereof.

I claim 1. In a superheater forlocomotives, a wet steam chamberconnected to a steam supply, a superheated steam chamber locatedadjacent to said wet steam chamber, headers depending from saidchambers, alternate headers communicating with said first named chamber,and intermediate headers communicating with said second named chamber,said headers being located out of alinement with the boiler flues so asto permit access to the latter, the lower portion of said headersterminating above the level of the lower boiler iues, whereby anincreased amount of superheating surface is secured without diminishingthe damper space, and superheating coils located in said boiler lues andconnecting adjacent headers, thel superheating coils in the lowest rowof iiues being inclined upwardly at their ends, said superheating coilsbeing secured to the rear portion of said headers.

2. In a superheate-r for locomotives, a wet steam chamber connected to asteam supply, a superheated steam chamber located adjacent to said wetsteam chamber, said chambers being located near the top of a locomotivesmoke box, headers depending from said chambers, said headers beingstepped in wardlyand downwardly, alternate headers ing with said secondnamed chamber, said headers seing located out of alinement with .isc

the boiler lues so as to permit access to the latter, the lower portionof said headers terminating above the level of the lower boiler iues,whereby an increased amount of su erheating surface is secured withoutdiminlshing the damper space, and superheating coils located in saidboiler ues, the superheating Acoils in the lowest row of flues beinginintegral with said casting,

clined upwardly at their ends, said Superheating coils connectingadjacent headers and being expanded at their ends in holesl portions ofsaid headers,

in the rear vertical of said headers being the front portion pluggedopposite the connections of said su-v perheating -coils with saidheaders.

3. In a locomotive snperheater, a casting .located in the smoke box of alocomotive said superheated steam chamber, said headers being locatedbetween the vertical rows of boiler lues, whereby access may be had tothe latter, said headers being terminated at their lower ends above 'thebottom row of boiler flues, and superheating coils communicating withand connecting the rear ends of adjacent headers, said superheat'ingcoils being located inthe boiler lues'.

4.. In a superheater for locomotives, a wet steam chamber connected to asteam supply, a superheated steam chamber located adjacent to said wetsteam chamber, headers depending from said chambers, alternate headerscommunicating witha-said first named chamber land intermediate headerscommunicating with said second-named chamber, said headers being locatedout of alinement with the boiler iiuesso as to permit access tothelatter, and a -superheatng element in each flue comprising a continuouscoil of four pipes, the two front ends of the coil being bent laterallyimmediatelyl outside of the front ue sheet and expanded in openings inthe rearsurfaces of adjacent headers.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name. i

ANDREW WILLIAM ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may lie' obtainedV for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

